CSL bodyshell stress crack - warning!

Hi Folks

At the end of last season at the ring, the mechanic I use at the ring (Tom Schirmer) noticed a small stress crack on the bodyshell, right beside the front subframe mount. He told me he's only seen it a few times before, and he's seen quite a few CSLs that get worked hard. We didn't have time to fix it then (I was returning home) but it needs fixed before any more track work he reckoned.

Anyway, we finally got the car on the ramps today (back in Scotland) and took off the whole rear axle:



And after cleaning off the grime we could see the crack had got worse.



Luckily we've caught it in time though, we're welding the crack and then going to weld 4 plates on each subframe mount, that should stop it happening again.

My car gets a reasonable work out, but also I have fitted solid subframe mounts from Turner Motorsport about 2 years ago which obviously contributed to the stress crack on the bodyframe.

I thought I'd post this thread as a warning to anyone who's car gets some serious track work, and/or anyone who's upgraded their subframe mounts. Check for stress cracks regularly!